Archive for 2010
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Sad to know that you’re leaving, Gregory
October 31, 2010Distracted by my own minor medical emergency, it’s only just now that I learned of Gregory Isaacs’ passing last Monday. Gregory Isaacs reached international stardom beyond the reggae world in 1982 with the success of his ‘Night Nurse’ album. NY Times music critic Milo Miles called Isaacs ‘the most exquisite vocalist in reggae’. Lung cancer [...]
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The death of the mobile web greatly exaggerated ?
October 16, 2010Reminiscent of the debates of the waxing and waning of the ideal size of the client (as in client/server) during the 1990s, the mobile apps vs. mobile web debate seems equally sinusoidal. For those millennials who were too young to remember, the client/server revolution taught us the virtues of transforming the all-powerful mainframes combined with [...]
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The 177,000-year repayment schedule
October 6, 2010Not many people expected him to be found totally blameless, but Jérôme Kerviel’s verdict yesterday astonished even the most buttoned-up bourgeoisie of Paris’ finance-centered 8th arrondissement. A French judge found Kerviel, Société Générale’s infamous « rogue trader » who manipulated €50 billion worth of false trades which almost brought about the French bank’s demise, solely responsible for [...]
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Internet bubble 2.0 in France ?
September 24, 2010It seems that since the return from summer holidays in France this season, not a day goes by without some significant announcement in the internet space here. Some notable strategic fundraisings have taken place (e.g. Groupe Casino’s investment in Rue du Commerce), Opodo and Meetic have put themselves up for sale, and there’s the highly [...]
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The joys of interoperability
September 17, 2010I’m in a chirpy mood this Friday for the dullest of reasons. Two incidents are responsible, and both have to do with interoperability. First, my office iPad is now functioning properly with our office wifi network, so I can shut off the power-rapacious 3G connection. Despite both the iPad and our wireless lan being fully [...]
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France’s internet pure players
September 10, 2010Le Journal du Net today presents a concise summary of the performance of France’s internet pure players, segmented by domain and business model. For the internet portals, the general diagnosis is negative, largely due to the decline in online ad spending and the ensuing downward pressure on CPM’s during the economic crisis. AOL France closed [...]
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BRIC or ABE (anything but europe) ?
September 7, 2010Since 1999, BCG has ranked global corporations on their value creation performance. Entirely objective, these rankings are based on total shareholder return over the period 2005 through 2009. For the first time since inception, this year’s ranking does not include a single U.S. or European company in the top ten, with 57% of the companies [...]